AP – Tropical Storm Helene was rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and became a hurricane yesterday while moving north along Mexico’s coast toward the United States (US), prompting residents to evacuate, schools to close and officials to declare emergencies in Florida and Georgia. The storm was forecasted at “near hurricane strength” when it passed near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula early yesterday, the US National Hurricane Centre said, and to “intensify and grow in size” as it moves north across the Gulf of Mexico. Heavy rainfall was forecast for the southeastern US starting yesterday, with a “life-threatening storm surge” along the entire west coast of Florida, according to the centre. Helene is expected to become a major hurricane – a Category 3 or higher – today, the day it’s set to reach Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to the hurricane centre. The centre has issued hurricane warnings for part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Florida’s northwestern coastline, where large storm surges of up to 4.5 metres were expected. Mexico is still reeling from former Hurricane John battering its other coast. John hit the country’s southern Pacific coast late Monday, killing two people, blowing tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and toppling scores of trees, officials said on Tuesday. John grew into a Category 3 hurricane in a matter of hours on Monday and made landfall about 128 kilometres east of the resort of Acapulco, near the town of Punta Maldonado, with maximum sustained winds of 193 kilometre per hour before weakening to a tropical storm after moving inland. Helene, which formed on Tuesday in the Caribbean, is expected to move over deep, warm waters, fuelling its intensification. People in regions under hurricane warnings and watches should be prepared to lose power and should have enough food and water for at least three days, forecasters warned.
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